Both the Catholic High boys and girls soccer teams recorded impressive wins on Thursday’s Senior Night contests.

The boys defeated Acadiana Renaissance Charter Academy 6-2 behind four goals from senior Bennet Boudreaux, while the Lady Panthers picked up the first mercy-rule win of the season against Ascension Episcopal.

Catholic High 6, ARCA 2

It didn’t take long for the Panthers to jump out to an early lead against ARCA as senior striker Bennet Boudreaux recorded a hat-trick inside the opening 15 minutes.

The first goal came just six minutes in as Boudreaux slotted a shot across the face of goal. His second goal came from distance as Boudreaux took a powerful shot from the edge of the penalty area in the 8th minute. Another goal in the 14th minute gave Catholic High a commanding lead, but the team would have to wait until the second half to find the back of the net again.

With ARCA playing a high defensive line, the Panther attackers launched repeated through balls towards the ARCA goal. Boudreaux scored his 4th and final goal of the night just seconds into the second half, chipping the goalkeeper after beating the ARCA defense near midfield.

Jace Arceneaux then took his chance to get on the scoresheet, scoring Catholic High’s 5th goal of the night in the 48th minute after sending a shot through the goalkeeper’s legs and into the net. A powerful shot into the right side of the net improved the score to 6-0, but personnel changes by CHS head coach Hale Trahan allowed ARCA to score two consolation goals to close out the game.

Despite the win, Trahan said that his team still has a few things they need to improve on as they turn their attention to the end of the season.

“A win is a win, and a convincing win is good, but it was sloppy and a lot of that had to do with mental errors and not putting what we practice into the game,” Trahan explained.

Trahan is in his first season as head coach of the Panthers, taking over a program that had quite a few first-time soccer players on the roster. With a focus on getting the players to do the right things on the field, Trahan is seeing consistent improvement throughout the season.

“A lot of what we’ve been focusing on in training and on film is taking a more cerebral approach to the game,” he said. “We want to understand the feel of the game: feeling pressure, feeling pockets of space open up. A lot of our first touches are into pressure instead of into space. We’re inconsistent from game to game but overall we’re better than we were and that’s why we’ve been getting results.”

The win moved Catholic High to 7-2-2 on the season and 2-0 in district play, remaining undefeated since a 4-1 loss to Erath in the middle of December.

The next test will come on Saturday, when the Panthers travel to Lafayette to face off against reigning Division II state champions St. Thomas More. Kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m.

Catholic High 8, Ascension Episcopal 0

Not to be outdone by the boys, the Lady Panthers took the field with a point to prove, scoring six goals in the first half and ending the game in the 67th minute via mercy rule.

Sophie Vines opened the scoring in the 11th minute before junior Emily Currie scored the second of the night. Amalie Trappey scored the third and Currie nabbed the fourth just after the half-hour mark.

Senior Amanda Gonsoulin took a shot from distance to score the team’s 5th goal of the night. Fellow senior Miraim Romero scored just before halftime to improve the lead to 6-0.

Allison Gachassin and Amanda Gonsoulin each scored in the second half to close out the game.

The win moved the Lady Panthers to 6-6 on the season and 2-0 in district. Catholic High will return to action on Monday when they face off against Highland Baptist. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.